My husband and his ex do not agree and I need feedback please. She lives in Arizona and us in Colorado. We have the son for the school year. She is upset because she thinks we are trying to steal time away from her. He leaves for the summer 5 days after the last day of school and gets back 12 days before school starts. This is in agreement with the parenting plan. She thinks because he is almost 10 he doesn't need transition time anymore but we disagree. I think all kids need that at any age. Especially kids like him who have to go through that period of emotional decompression. Does this seem like an appropriate time for transition or do we appear selfish. How does it compare to other summer schedules for children of divorced parents? Thank you so much!

1) The parenting plan is presumably court-ordered, so your fallback position is just to go with what the plan requires. If your husband's ex disagrees with it she should go back to the judge and make her case to have it changed. And he can make his.

2) As a stepmom you should probably be very careful about involving yourself in this argument. You can be supportive of your husband of course, and of course you care about your stepson's well-being, but recognize that the conflict is between him and his ex, and she's very likely to resent interference from you.